Rabbi’s Message

Rabbi Natan Halevy

Parashat Shelah 5784, BSD

Shalom Uvracha.

In this week’s Parasha we read about the tragic tale of the 12 spies that Moshe sent to tour the land of Israel. 10 of the twelve spies decided to bring a bad report of the land in order to deter the people of Israel from entering into it. Hashem had promised that the land was a good land, so why would Moshe send the spies to begin with?

There are many ways to interpret this story. King Solomon states “Have a horse ready for the day of war, however salvation comes from Hashem”. When it comes to worldly matters that challenge us, we must do everything in our power to achieve salvation and victory through natural means. We must have a strong army. People challenged with illness must seek out the best healing modalities. However after we have done everything we can in the natural world, we must realize that success and salvation are in Hashem’s hands 

When we look at this story through a spiritual lens, we can see an even greater depth to this seemingly simple story in the Torah. The land of Israel was formerly called “The land of Canaan”. This had to do with the seven Canaanite nations who lived there. These nations represent the 7 spiritual emotions in their negative element. Kindness, Justice and the other emotions gone wrong. The conquering of the land is connected to the conquering of these emotions and uplifting them to holiness. Moshe was sending the spies in order to effect part of this change. 

Our emotional traits and characteristics are a  part of our spiritual makeup. They are not so easily transformed. Only wholly righteous people (tzadikim) are able to transform their emotions entirely to holiness. Thus the spies failed in their mission.

In the Haftarah we read a similar account, which happened approximately 39 years later. Joshua, who was leading the people of Israel into the land, sends 2 spies to scout out the city of jericho. Why was this necessary? Especially after the disastrous consequences after the sending of the first group of spies.

The word for Jericho in Hebrew is ‘Yericho’, which is connected to the word for scent. Scent is connected to garments. What are the garments of the soul? Our thoughts, speech and action. Garments can be removed and changed. We can change our thoughts, use different words, and behave in different ways. Thus the spies that Joshua sent had an easier mission, and they succeeded in it. Jericho is called the “lock of the land of Israel”. The garments we enclothe our soul in are the lock to the conquering of our lives. And when we succeed in changing them to the better, we are able to uplift our souls to a higher level.

May we merit to uplift ourselves and the world around us, and see better times for all of our nation and the land of Israel.

Shabbat Shalom Umevorach.